By Daniel Paulling
Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal
LeBron James made a much-anticipated return home to the Cleveland Cavaliers last summer. Joe Vardon did the same — perhaps to less fanfare — because of it.
Vardon became the LeBron James beat writer at the Northeast Ohio Media Group, leaving his position covering politics for the Columbus Dispatch. The former Akron, Ohio, resident largely focuses on James but also writes about the Cavaliers alongside beat writer Chris Haynes.
“LeBron James is the biggest, or one of the biggest, stories in sports,” Vardon said. “Coming home to Cleveland was perhaps the story of last summer. You knew it would be such a unique story and one any journalist really wanted to have an opportunity to tell.”
Vardon’s stories are written from James’ perspective.
After Game 1 of the NBA Finals, he wrote a short game story focused around James’ performance in the Cavaliers’ 108-100 overtime loss to the Golden State Warriors. He also had a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of how James performed.
Haynes wrote a broad game story that focused on the Cavaliers.
Vardon has also written about James wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirt, the phrase part of a protest following the death of Eric Garner, and James playing in front of British royalty Prince William and Kate Middleton while in New York City for a game against the Brooklyn Nets.
NEOMG sports manager David Campbell declined to comment about the position, which was created when James joined the Cavaliers after spending four seasons with the Miami Heat. He said in an email that his boss has asked him to decline requests to talk about the beat all season.
Vardon said he’s developed a good working relationship with James and has been able to receive a share of one-on-one interviews despite James being sought after by many media outlets, both local and national.
Vardon added he’s been forced to think more broadly in completing his coverage because he’s focused on one athlete. One recent example of this type of coverage in sports journalism is Japanese reporters following MLB players such as Yu Darvish or, formerly, Hideki Matsui.
“This is nearly unprecedented, having a beat reporter for a specific athlete,” said Vardon, who was a sports reporter earlier in his career. “Not completely, but nearly. The book on how to handle this hasn’t been written.
“You have to be able to think beyond what you see and what is obvious. You have to really come to understand all that encompasses LeBron’s world. It’s remembering something else that happens in the NBA, it might not look like it has nothing to do with LeBron but because he’s LeBron, what he says on this event that we’re talking about matters.”
Other personnel moves across the country:
NATIONAL
—ESPN: Hired USA Today Sports managing editor Mary Byrne as NFL editor
—Sporting News: Hired former Alabama Media Group sports reporter Nick Birdsong as digital content producer
—USA Today: Promoted David Meeks to USA Today Sports managing editor from sports enterprise and investigations editor. … Sports writer Gary Mihoces is retiring from the paper after 30-plus years
ATLANTIC COAST REGION
—Daily Press: Sports writer Dave Fairbank is retiring from the paper after 30-plus years
—Roanoke Times: Hired Erik Hall as assistant sports editor
GREAT LAKES REGION
—St. Paul Pioneer Press: Hired Jace Frederick as high school sports reporter
GREAT PLAINS REGION
—Denver Post: Promoted Nicki Jhabvala to Denver Broncos beat alongside Troy Renck … lost Broncos beat writer Mike Klis, who has accepted a position at KUSA-Channel 9 after 17-plus years at the Post
MID-ATLANTIC REGION
—PennLive: Hired former Daytona Beach News-Journal sports editor Burke Noel as sports manager
—Washington Post: Hired Kevin Blackistone to write commentary
NORTHEAST REGION
—MassLive: Hired Christopher Smith to cover Boston Red Sox
SOUTHEAST REGION
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Hired former Alabama Media Group’s Jeff Sentell as UGA recruiting reporter … hired former Macon Telegraph UGA reporter Seth Emerson to help cover UGA alongside Chip Towers
—Baton Rouge Advocate: Hired former Alabama Media Group Auburn reporter Joel A. Erickson to cover New Orleans Saints
—Clarion-Ledger: Hired former Delta Democrat Times sports editor Chris Whitaker as sports planning editor
—Herald-Leader: Losing preps reporter Mike Fields, who is retiring from the paper after 40 years
—Opelika-Auburn News: Hired Will Sammon as preps reporter
—Sun Sentinel: Hired former Baltimore Sun deputy sports editor David Selig as sports editor
—Tallahassee Democrat: Hired Brian Miller as preps editor
SOUTHWEST REGION
—Houston Chronicle: Promoted Randy Harvey to sports editor to replace Nick Mathews, who became editor of Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Va.
—San Antonio Express-News: Hired former Indianapolis Star sports planning editor Jim Lefko as sports editor
(Daniel Paulling covers Texas Tech athletics and recruiting for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Contact him at @DanielPaulling or daniel.paulling@lubbockonline.com.)
